MOUNTAINBURG -- A River Valley town plans to request an extension to try to keep $2.5 million it needs to bring potable water service to about 625 households in north-central Crawford County.
Mayor Susan Wilson told residents at a public meeting Tuesday she would ask the county American Rescue Plan Committee for a 90-day extension on a deadline. Otherwise, the county could revoke the money it set aside for a proposed water infrastructure project.
"If we lose that $2.5 million, and they want the city to finance it, this project will be over," Wilson said. "If we keep on keeping on, that means we're good to go. If not, we'll be sending out letters."
Crawford County's Quorum Court approved spending $2.5 million in American Rescue Plan money for the water project March 21 following approval from the committee earlier that month. However, it stipulated the money would remain the county's American Rescue Plan fund and be redistributed if the project isn't fully funded by Nov. 30.
Wilson said she doesn't anticipate the county will object to extending its deadline. The continuation would allow Mountainburg more time to hear back from the federal and state agencies to which it also applied for project money.
"We still have our fingers crossed, our toes crossed, we're still ready to go," Wilson said. "Where we exactly sit is we're in the application process."
Mark Shaffer, committee chairman and justice of the peace for the county's District 6, said Thursday if the committee grants the deadline extension, the proposal will have to be brought before the Quorum Court for approval.
Wilson and Brett Peters, president and chief executive officer of the Van Buren-based firm Hawkins-Weir Engineers, addressed the committee about requesting a deadline extension at its meeting Oct. 4.
Wes LeMonier of Hawkins-Weir stressed the importance of getting money for the project from every possible level. He said outside the county, Mountainburg and Hawkins-Weir applied to receive $2.5 million in American Rescue Plan money from the state. It also applied for about $7 million in loan and grant money from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development, with just under $2 million in loan money.
Wilson has said no water system serves households in a certain part of Crawford County -- between Mountainburg and Cedarville -- from the Washington County line south to Rudy. Residents have to either get it from wells or an outside source, such as the Lake Fort Smith Water Treatment Plant in Mountainburg. Mountainburg buys water from Fort Smith.
LeMonier has said the project to bring water to these people would involve adding 68 miles of pipe from Mountainburg's water distribution system to households in the affected area, along with building infrastructure such as water storage tanks, pressure-reducing valves and a new pump station. The project would also improve three existing pump stations.
"This is not asking for something frivolous," Wilson said Tuesday. "This is not new clothes. This is not new shoes. This is not Louis Vuitton. This is water. So we stress that. These people have Internet and don't have water."
LeMonier estimated construction would take two years to complete.
The cost of the project has increased from about $12.4 million to about $13.4 million, LeMonier said. The additional $1 million includes Community Development Block Grant money to cover hooking up low-to-moderate income residents to the planned water system, as well as bringing their plumbing up to state standards. Any money leftover from this would go toward project costs.
LeMonier said Wilson and Hawkins-Weir will meet with the Fort Smith-based Western Arkansas Planning and Development District to better understand what constitutes low-to-moderate income in this context.
"We conducted a low-to-moderate income survey in 2018," LeMonier said. "If Arkansas Economic Development Commission, which is who administers the CDBG grant, if they do not accept that low-to-moderate income survey we conducted in 2018, we'll have to perform a new survey with those new income limits."
Wilson said Friday she'll ask the county to apply for this money on Mountainburg's behalf.
The city has 345 signed water-user agreements and matching $100 deposits from property owners in the affected area as of Tuesday, a downturn from the 349 the city had accumulated by Aug. 1, she said.
Wilson had set a goal of 400 to show funding agencies the water project would be sustainable if they approved financing for it. The deposits are included in the project's cost and will serve as the participants' "buy-in" for construction if it's funded.
Wilson said Tuesday the city refunded deposits for six people the previous week. This included one person who decided she couldn't afford the water bill the project would bring and five people who sold their properties in the affected area.
She anticipates having the next public meeting about the project Feb. 1. However, another public meeting may have to happen before then as part of the application process for the Community Development Block Grant money.
The exterior of the Lake Fort Smith Water Treatment Plant is seen, Thursday, Nov. 3, 2022, in Mountainburg. Mountainburg Mayor Susan Wilson has said some households in Crawford County are not served by any water system, requiring those residents to retrieve water from wells or an outside source, including the Lake Fort Smith Water Treatment Plant. Visit nwaonline.com/221106Daily/ for today's photo gallery. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)
Lack of Agreement
Residents in north-central Crawford County who don’t provide Mountainburg a signed water-user agreement and $100 deposit will have to pay a tap fee if they want to have their property connected to the proposed water infrastructure project. This fee is expected to be between $1,500 and $2,000, or $2,500 if a water line has to cross a county road to reach a property.
Source: Mayor Susan Wilson